Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs O lost approximately £12,000 to a cryptocurrency investment scam after transferring funds through her Revolut account. She had initially invested smaller amounts through bank L, which had already questioned her about the activity and provided scam warnings. The scammers coached her on how to answer bank questions and pressured her to make a larger payment through Revolut to release her investment. Mrs O complained to Revolut for a refund, citing her vulnerability due to health conditions, but Revolut refused on the basis that the transactions were authorised and appropriate warnings were provided. The ombudsman found that while Revolut should have provided a tailored investment scam warning, it could not reasonably have prevented the loss because Mrs O would have given the same reassuring explanation to Revolut as she had to her bank, and Revolut lacked visibility of the full pattern of concerning activity.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Revolut has a responsibility to look out for fraud risks and intervene proportionately, there must be a balance in fraud controls. Mrs O had been a sporadic user of the Revolut account with relatively low value payments, so the £12,000 transaction was not clearly out of character for this type of account. Although a tailored investment scam warning should have been shown, the ombudsman was not persuaded any warnings would have made a difference given that bank L had already provided scam education which did not deter her. The ombudsman reasoned that Mrs O would have given Revolut the same plausible explanation she gave her bank, and Revolut would not have had the same level of concern or visibility as bank L. The ombudsman concluded that proportionate intervention would not have broken the spell of the scam, and Revolut could not reasonably have prevented the loss.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website